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Caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) have been cautioned not to use the school children to wash bowls used in serving them. They should also stop serving the children in polythene bags to avoid food poisoning. The caution came from the Assistant Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mrs. Irene Odokai Messiba at an orientation workshop of GSFP for regional district level actors in Bolgatanga. She observed that in some schools, the caterers used the children to wash the bowls in which they were served, including pots, sauce pans and other cooking utensils. Mrs. Odokai explained that in instances where the children brought their own bowls from their homes, they were to take them back home and wash them. However, if the bowls were provided by the programme, it was the responsibility of the caterers to wash them stressing that "the children are only t eat; you serve them and they eat and go". She advised the caterers not to allow the children to collect their food from polythene bags. "Though we want to feed the children, when there is an outbreak of food poisoning or whatever, everybody will forget of the good aspect of the programme and criticize us," she emphasized. Mrs. Odokai gave the background of the programme since its inception in 2005 and said the concept was to feed children in selected public primary schools and kindergarten with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown food on every school going day. Participants who were drawn from the various district and municipal assemblies as heads of schools, Directors of education, coordinators of the GSFP, as well as the media, were taken through topics such as; institutional arrangements, institutional structure and participation, ownership of GSFP, the role of the GSFP National Secretariat, the roles of District education, agricultural, and health directors among others. The Assistant Director said the direct beneficiaries of the programme were District! Municipal assemblies and communities in which the beneficiary schools of the programme were situated. These two structures were therefore urged to regard and accept the programme as their own and as belonging to them. Mrs. Sarah Naa Dedei Agbey, Senior Adviser, SNV-Netherlands Development Organization, made a presentation on the GSFP social accountability project which she said was a mechanism that ensured that duty bearers were held responsible by the public. It also sought to build accountability that relied on civic engagement in exacting accountability, enhanced good governance and promoted democratic principle. The Internal Auditor of the GSFP, Mr. Akwasi Afrifa-Mensah, also took the participants through accountability policies and procedures under the programme. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, whose speech was read for him by his Deputy, Mrs. Lucy Awuni, charged the Municipal and District Chief Executives to ensure compliance with all financial regulations while ensuring confidentiality as government in all situations wants to ensure accountability and transparency.